1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to powered brushing, scrubbing and similar cleaning devices and particularly to hand-held, portable, cordless devices of this nature.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
It has been known in the prior art to provide battery-powered devices suitable for scrubbing, polishing, cleaning, skin treatment, and the like. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,343,192; 3,380,093; 4,005,502 and 4,027,348 exemplify the general state of the art with respect to hand-held, portable, self-contained, cordless devices of this kind. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,444,576 and 3,733,634 represent variations thereof.
The types of cordless devices described in the aforementioned patents are generally similar in the sense of being designed to rotate, orbit or oscillate a single pad, brush, or the like. Such singly driven brushes, pads, or the like, when rotated, tend to cause "skating" or lateral movement across the surface of the area being cleaned or polished. Specifically with regard to the problem of cleaning fabric, it has been observed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,796,641 that the provision of counter-rotating brushes, when applied to fabric being cleaned, tends to prevent wrinkling of the fabric. However, it is noted that this patent does not teach a portable, cordless-type of cleaning device with snap-fitted, counter-rotating brushes capable of providing a relatively small diameter brush operating at relatively high speed and low torque or a somewhat larger brush operating at relatively low speed and high torque or the combination of the two brushes operating at such different torques and speeds so as to meet a variety of cleaning conditions particularly as found in the ordinary household. It is also noted that the counter-rotating brush device of U.S. Pat. No. 1,796,641 does not provide a portable, cordless device with means to quickly detach the brush, set of brushes, or other devices being used for cleaning, scrubbing, polishing, or like operation. Also, the gear and drive mechanisms of such patented device require securement and introduce lubrication considerations.
Thus, it becomes the general object of this invention to overcome the foregoing shortcomings of the prior art and to provide a vastly improved, hand-held, portable, cordless device adapted to scrubbing, cleaning, polishing, and the like, particularly when fluids are being used for such purposes. It also becomes an object of the present invention to provide such a portable, cordless device with a rechargeable battery pack arrangement enabling a quick replacement of the battery power source. Also, while single shaft, snap-fitted brushes are known, an object is to provide improved snap-fit connections for counter-rotating concentric drives.